Fashion. OFF THE CUFF.

More Readers' Thoughts On The Diversity Question

May 16, 1996|By Teresa Wiltz.

Several weeks ago, amazed and dismayed by the preponderence of skinny blonds on the runway--one designer said "dusky skin" wasn't in--I posed a question: "Is it unrealistic to expect to see our diverse selves on the runway and in fashion magazines?" More of your answers:

Brian Lewis, Princeton University: "It might help your point more if you mentioned the conflation of race and gender and sexual desirability. The issue at hand has as much to do with equal representation as it does with seeing black bodies as beautiful. Don't you think so?"

Megan France, Wheaton: "I am a 12-year-old 6th grader. . . . We should be able to see many different races on the runway. . . . However, it is impractical to expect a realistic representation of women today on the runway. . . . People go to fashion shows and look at magazines to escape and see gorgeous superdivas flaunting expensive outfits and million-dollar paychecks. While yes, many races should appear at shows, mannequins still will have bodies no average woman could ever obtain. (P.S. I really did write this myself. My parents didn't help. They aren't as fashion conscious as moi.)"

Maxine Morphis, Wilmette: "I still remember the first time I saw a black face in the background of a TV soda commercial--one face, for just a second or two. . . . Was that company being PC? Until that moment, it had never occurred to me that a whole segment of our population had been left out of television. It occurs to me now that they can be left out again, along with a whole lot of other folks who have struggled to gain recognition that is theirs by right in our democracy. I say, heaven help us when encouraging inclusion and discouraging exclusion is reduced to being `PC.' "

Member3828@aol.com: "You sound like Bill Clinton, or even worse your silly Tribune colleague Eric Zorn, when you say you don't want quotas but only `fairness.' A quota is a quota, no matter what you call it. By the way, how do you decide how dark a model's skin has to be to qualify as a minority? Is there a color chart you can use, or will we do a background check to look for `colored' blood?"

Bill Price, Chicago: "When a rock or rap group advocates violence, or some pornmeister wants to invade the Internet, it's always defended under the banner of constitutional rights. So I'm wondering, isn't there something in the Constitution that allows a designer to march as many skinny white models as he pleases down a runway? Surely Ben Franklin . . . would have put in some kind of obscure clause to protect his designer friends."

Thanks so much for writing in. Case closed--unless, that is, someone out there in fashion land does or says something really egregious.